A SPOT ON THE WALL #BACKONTRACK MAXINE AHMED Max Ahmed has lived and worked in the Yorkshire Dales for the last thirty years. The move from an industrial city into the gorgeous landscape of the local area re-inspired her love of painting. Her inspiration has also come from encouragement and tuition by Winifred Hodge and Ian Scott-Massie - both of whom she really admires. She is constantly striving to capture the essence and mood of a place, a snapshot in time, a celebration of nature and all the colour that makes it sing! JUDITH ANDERSON Judith is an amateur textile artist with a City & Guilds qualification in machine embroidery. Using this technique, she depicts ‘fragments of the past’ - broken stained-glass windows and torn manuscripts presented in repurposed frames, together with foliage and floral covered fossickings from woods, architectural salvage and the seashore. Judith is a member of the Richmond and Leyburn branch of The Embroiderers’ Guild. CATHERINE BALL Based in Newcastle, Catherine is always trying to make the ordinary look extraordinary, choosing the camera as her creative medium. She paints with light and is a passionate advocate of photography and art. Catherine enjoys creating pieces that are thought provoking, a little different and make the viewer see beyond the image; often her work takes an illustrative, almost painterly quality as it transforms from a photograph. Catherine welcomes commissions for OOAK pieces. thelittlefineart.co Facebook – LittleFineArt Instagram – LittleFineArt Twitter: - LittleFineArt DANIEL BENBOW Most of the pictures you will see of the Yorkshire Dales will be of rolling green hills as far as the eye can see, underneath bright blue skies. Daniel, an amateur photographer based in the Yorkshire Dales, is here to show you that there is darkness to be found in those hills! He searches the sombre corners of the north of England in an everlasting pursuit to capture that elusive darkness which haunts our lives from the shadows. Facebook - ravenstagphotography Instagram - ravenstagphotography ravenstagphotography.etsy.com MARK CONROY Mark is a retired army general practitioner, working mainly in watercolours. His subject matter varies from wildlife to sporting scenes. PAMELA CRAWFORD Pamela is a local artist living in Brompton-on-Swale. Her work is a kaleidoscope of different styles, ranging from local landscapes, wildflowers, abstracts and paintings from imagination. She paints mainly in watercolours - the clean, translucent colours so perfect for wildflowers and misty dales landscapes - but recently has enjoyed the freedom of abstract painting and the rich colours of alcohol inks and acrylics. Her work is regularly exhibited in the Showcase Gallery and The Station. VICKI DAVIDSON Vicki Davidson is an artist with a passion for bright, dynamic and inspirational art. Always keen to experiment, Vicki works in oil, pastel, acrylic, watercolour and charcoal. Her subjects include portraits, animals and landscapes. Vicki also works as an NHS nurse – she is currently a Clinical Matron working within cardiothoracic services and critical care. Vicki, originally from Dartmoor in Devon, lives on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales with her husband and two children. vickidavidson.com CLARE DEAN Clare is a mixed-media artist based in Wetherby, who is inspired by nature and texture. She enjoys colour and paints spontaneously, enjoying the looseness of paint. She uses both palette knives and her fingers to blend the paint and will use brushes for finer detail. Her usual mediums to paint in are acrylic, inks, and watercolour, plus natural dried material. She has produced a range of cards and prints from her original work. clarescreations.co.uk Facebook - clarescreationsart Instagram - clares_creations_art/ JANE DENNIS Jane has recently been awarded a Master in Fine Art following a degree in glass and ceramics. She takes influence from the world around her, capturing the beauty of her surroundings. She works outdoors where possible, sketching from life to capture movement, expressions and body language. She sees her quick sketches as a catalogue of life, holding memories. Jane enjoys experimenting with a range of media such as acrylic, screen prints, glass and ceramics. www.janedennis.net SARAH DROUGHT Sarah is a mixed-media artist who lives and works in North Yorkshire. She is inspired by the surrounding landscape, trips abroad and the places she visits. Sarah enjoys exploring materials by layering newspaper, maps and other materials along with more traditional acrylic and watercolour painting methods. She has fifteen years of teaching experience, working with college students in the north-east of England. sarahdrought.co.uk Facebook - sarahdroughtart Instagram: sarah.droughtart OLIVIA DUNN Olivia’s work focusses mainly on the female form and portraiture. This has been driven by her enduring interest in people and the emotional connections we experience throughout life. After gaining a degree in both Fine Art and Psychology, Olivia has developed her practice to explore the relationships that can be made by a viewer to her art. These may be transient, or enduring, but it is an invisible connection. This intangible quality is her motivation. just-florence-art Instagram - just_florence_art Facebook - Just Florence Art ALISON FOSTER Alison has a lifelong passion for art and recently transferred her drawing and painting skills into felt making, exploring the craft using various fleece fibres and silk. She uses merino fleece, with a technique similar to that of a painter using brushstrokes. Through the process of wet felting, she carefully layers and blends colours to create a landscape or wildlife image, finishing the composition with needle felting techniques to create texture. Her inspiration is drawn from the Yorkshire moors and dales. RACHEL FOSTER Rachel is a professional photographer, specialising in canine and equine portraits, game shooting and agricultural imagery. She provides private commissions and unlimited edition prints. Rachel is a true country lady - a farmer's wife, passionate about field sports, the Yorkshire landscape and the animals within it, all of which comes to the fore in her work. rachelfoster-photo.smugmug.com Facebook - RFoster.Photography Instagram - gameandgundogs Etsy - RachelFosterPhoto NICOLE GRAHAM Nicole is a local artist who has a different range of styles and media. Her Artstorm, however, is her most dramatic. She creates paintings of collisions between light and dark, when her emotions are at their most intense. These paintings are her chosen therapy- she follows the urge to paint and is in her element. Her paintings are creative, natural outpourings of her inner upheaval, allowing her to transform emotions into raw beauty. Facebook – Artstorm JENNY GREEN Jenny is intrigued by atmosphere and tonality in paintings. She has been walking in the Yorkshire Dales and Northern Pennines for over thirty years and takes most of the subjects for her paintings from there. HILARY GRISEWOOD Hilary Grisewood has been drawing and painting all her life She is largely self-taught and currently paints in watercolours and acrylics. She lives in Wensleydale where she is inspired by the austere landscape, which looks scrubbed clean by wind and rain and where the light changes constantly. She is fascinated by human traces in the landscape - by derelict barns, rusting machinery, gates and old tractors, which leave footprints of past lives. SHEILA HARRIS Sheila is a member of Artwave North, a group of twelve diverse artists, who encourage and help one another in their artistic endeavours. The group have exhibited successfully at a variety of locations in the north-east including The Station, Durham, Bowlees and the Inspired By… Gallery at Danby. Sheila mainly uses ink, pencil and fine liners and has a particular interest in capturing the shapes and contours of rugged, mountainous landscapes. artwavenorth.co.uk AILEEN HARVEY Aileen is a self-taught artist living in Catterick Village. She takes her inspiration from wildlife across the world, from home to the African savannas, capturing their characters and the stories they have to tell. Aileen has exhibited throughout Yorkshire and Cleveland including; Patchings, Nottingham (winning the Leisure Painter Award); Palace Art Gallery, Redcar,; The Ilkley Art Show. To book a workshop or commission a portrait contact Aileen through her website. aileenharveyportraits.com EITHNE HENSON Eithne Henson is mainly inspired by the changing lights of the Yorkshire Dales landscapes, and by the seascapes of Northumberland. She enjoys experimenting with different media and has studied in the past with Winifred Hodge, Debbie Loane, and Scott-Massie. DONNA HETHERINGTON Donna studied Textile Design, Conceptual and Fine Art at university, gaining a first-class degree. She went on to teach art whilst continuing to develop her practice. Her work is inspired by nature, its beauty and patterns and its emotive qualities. This selection of work brings together her interests in both colour and artistic representations of nature. In trying to make sense of these things, the watercolours are allowed to largely paint themselves. JOHN HOPKINS John has been painting since he retired from teaching in 2001. After several years in Winifred Hodges` painting group, he now attends two groups in Wensleydale. He paints mainly from photos taken of scenes that have attracted his attention. ED HULLAH Ed is a self-taught amateur painter who prefers portraiture in oils, charcoal and chalk.